I've been thinking there are less insects about for some years and now it seems I'm definitely not imagining it (at least in the case of flying insects - 75% in 30 years in protected areas of Germany).

In Ecuador one factor is light pollution, which draws flying insects from long distances. Natural gas flares at oil rigs are notorious for this. And reducing nocturnal insects increases predation pressure on diurnal insects, so both decline._________________Lou Jost
www.ecomingafoundation.wordpress.comwww.loujost.com

In Ecuador one factor is light pollution, which draws flying insects from long distances. Natural gas flares at oil rigs are notorious for this. And reducing nocturnal insects increases predation pressure on diurnal insects, so both decline.

Gosh, I hadn't thought of that connection! Light pollution has long been a *major* bugbear of mine (ex observatory owner). Now I have even more reason to detest it!

The whole situation is depressing and deeply annoying in equal measure. What really gets my goat is the "deniers" of various forms who are only interested in short term profit for themselves and just stick their fingers in their ears and go "la la la la la la" when presented with irrefutable evidence that their greed will cost them (and everyone else) in the end. Or even worse, they lobby policy-makers and spew baseless evidence-free propaganda to discredit the findings.

Sigh - guess I'll just have to be thankful I only have a finite life span

I and a lot of people who are old can recall, anecdotally, how we would see so many more insects and other arthropods when we were young.

Another factor besides the ones mentioned that worry me are the Neonicotinoid insecticides used to pre-treat seeds of crops. These are very powerful toxins that last a very long time in the environment. They are detected now over every inch of the earth, and they are exposing arthropods without discrimination.

For this to be a factor in the declines, it does not have to be at a dose to kill insects. Merely making them just a little bit stoned all their life will more than be enough._________________Mark Sturtevant
Dept. of Still Waters

...Another factor besides the ones mentioned that worry me are the Neonicotinoid insecticides...

I didn't know neonics were globally detectable now. Those, and insecticides in general bother me no end. Well, the producers of them do. Somehow, big-agri companies have lobbied (bribed) their way to a position where they can sell this stuff and have it plastered all over the countryside on an industrial scale - but it falls to others (who are rarely anywhere near as well funded) to prove that they cause harm in the longer term! And then it's too late...

people who are old can recall, anecdotally, how we would see so many more insects and other arthropods when we were young.

Discussing this in a group, aged from young to 80+, revealed a difference in experience. We all acknowledged the decreasing rate of windscreen/windshield kills, especially when including the memories as children, in our parents' cars. Impressions from the '90's going back to 1950 certainly revealed a change.
I can remember father having to stop regularly to clean the windscreen, during long journeys in the 1960's.

(Car aerodynamic design would have perhaps have an influence.)_________________Chris R

When I was growing up, nighthawks were a common feature of summer nights in Wisconsin. They'd fly around streetlights picking off big flying insects. Nighthawks are mostly gone now.

In the tropics we often notice that when lights first reach a region, tons of insects come to them every night, and insectivorous birds, reptiles, and amphibians hang out to eat the catch. Eventually they stop coming..._________________Lou Jost
www.ecomingafoundation.wordpress.comwww.loujost.com

Discussing this in a group, aged from young to 80+, revealed a difference in experience. We all acknowledged the decreasing rate of windscreen/windshield kills, especially when including the memories as children, in our parents' cars. Impressions from the '90's going back to 1950 certainly revealed a change.
I can remember father having to stop regularly to clean the windscreen, during long journeys in the 1960's.

(Car aerodynamic design would have perhaps have an influence.)

That really brings it into focus for me, since I remember that too. Windshields and grills fairly coated with guts and bits of insects. Blizzards of insects around street lights. I don't see these any more. _________________Mark Sturtevant
Dept. of Still Waters

I began to notice a decline in certain insects here in Western North Carolina years ago but I assumed it was just me and all a misunderstanding of that which I was observing. I see now that I am not the only one who had noticed a decline in their presence overall.

Sometime, a few years back, I began to notice a decline in the number of butterflies that I was seeing. It wasn't any one species in particular, though some are dangerously declining in number, just a decline in the number of sightings of diverse individuals overall. The same with June bugs or Scarabs, Dragons and Damselflies and I live right near a creek. I have seen one adult Mayfly so far this year and come to think of it, no Scarabs or June bugs. Lady beetles are another that seem to be declining too in numbers here. I suppose that if I sat and thought more on it, the list could possibly go on. It seems that just when I was really starting to develop and interest in insects, that is when I began noticing a decline in the numbers of them.